Dr Belinda Parker

Dr Parker co-leads the Cancer Theme and is Head of the Cancer Microenvironment and Immunology Laboratory at the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science. After obtaining her PhD in 2002, Dr Parker began postdoctoral training in the Breast Cancer Program, Department of Oncology at Johns Hopkins University, USA in the field of breast cancer biology and invasion. She then returned to Australia to work on cell specific mechanisms of breast cancer metastasis at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, where she was promoted to Team Leader in 2012 and moved to La Trobe University as a group leader in 2013. Dr Parker’s research focuses on dissecting the interactions between tumour cells and surrounding “normal cells” that promote cancer invasion and metastasis. She has a particular interest in cross talk between tumour cells and immune effector and suppressor cells, with a key focus on type I IFN signaling and immunotherapeutic response. A current focus of her laboratory is predicting immunotherapeutic benefit in breast cancer patients reliant on chemotherapy.